A bailer tool, also sometimes called a sand bailer, is a well tool used to remove sand and other small pieces of debris from inside a tubing or casing of the well. For example, a bailer tool can be used to clean debris out of a fish neck prior to gripping the fish neck. Some conventional bailer tools are pump-type tools that have a piston in cylinder and a check valve at the mouth of the cylinder. The tool is carried into the well on a wire (e.g., slickline). The piston is lifted in the cylinder via the wire, and sucks debris entrained in liquid into the cylinder through the check valve. The check valve closes, and seals the debris inside the cylinder. The piston may be lifted and lowered, via the wire, multiple times until the debris has been removed or the cylinder is full. Then, the bailer tool is retrieved to the surface on the wire.
A dump bailer tool operates oppositely to deposit material, typically cement, in the wellbore. For example, a dump bailer tool can be used to deposit cement onto a plug in the wellbore, to permanently place the plug. Some conventional bailer tools include a rupture disk that seals the material to be deposited inside a cylinder. A plunger is fixed at the bottom of the cylinder by shear pins. The dump bailer tool is carried into the well on a wire (e.g., slickline), and jarred down onto the plug or other subsurface device that the material will be deposited on. The jarring breaks the shear pins and drives the plunger up through the rupture disk, breaking the rupture disk. The material to be deposited flows from the cylinder into the wellbore. Then, the dump bailer tool is retrieved to the surface on the wire.
Like reference symbols in the various drawings indicate like elements.